College and Research Libraries By R I C E E S T E S The Lending Service Library IN J A N U A R Y 1940 an experimental rental library was opened at Columbia Univer- sity as a component part of the university libraries. A f t e r almost six years of oper- ation this library stands out as one of the most popular and useful services ever offered at the university and is now one of the show places on the campus. W h i l e many college and university libraries have maintained small rental collections or dupli- cate pay shelves, no library has offered such a service on so wide a scale or so effectively as Columbia. An examination of the methods employed there may be of value to other libraries. T h e problem of providing the most recent titles in great enough quantity and quickly enough to satisfy the readers' wishes was an old one at Columbia and had been studied for some time. I t was decided that the feasible solution was a rental library from which enough revenue would be derived to pay for the many duplicates needed to meet demand. T h e Lending Service Library was thus created to make accessible to members of the university community the latest books on all nontechnical subjects and to offer as many of these books as possible for circula- tion on the day of publication. As a rec- ompense for this service a rental fee of four cents a day with a sixteen-cent mini- mum charge was asked of borrowers. T h e subsequent success of the service resulted in a modification of rates to three cents a day with a ten-cent minimum. One large corner room conveniently lo- N o t e : M r . E s t e s w a s f o r m e r l y in charge of lending service in the Columbia U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r i e s . cated in South Hall, the main university library, was set aside for this service. T h e room contained shelving space for approxi- mately four thousand volumes, and, al- though the space had not been planned for this purpose, an arrangement of charging desk, catalog, and display cases near the entrance divided work space from the read- ing room. T h r e e reading tables, lamps, and a number of desks of the type used for carrell study were placed in the center of the floor and along the walls, giving the room an air of brightness and informality. W h e n the library was first «opened, the problem arose as to whom books could be rented. Commercial rental libraries in the neighborhood raised the point that they could not meet such competition as Colum- bia would offer if our doors were opened to all who lived in the community. There- fore, service was restricted to the faculty, students, staff, including the custodial work- ers, alumni, government employees located in the research laboratories of the univer- sity, and special permit borrowers. In the first six months 1642 readers had registered. Of these over 1200 were students. In De- cember 1945 approximately 3000 active borrowers were listed and thousands of in- active ones. T h e inactive file consists of the registration cards of those readers who have not withdrawn books in the past six months. W h e n registering, the new borrower shows a bursar's receipt or proper campus identi- fication and then fills out a slip, giving name, address, and school of study. T h i s information is first tabulated, then typed on a manila card. T h e card is filed at the 256 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES c h a r g i n g desk as an identification record. N o books are charged u n t i l identification is checked. U p o n the opening of the L e n d i n g Service L i b r a r y , a postal card w i t h a p r i n t e d message describing the service and the fees w a s mailed to the entire s t u d e n t body, the f a c u l t y , and the staff. E v e r since then publicity of some sort has been employed to keep before the readers the idea of the serv- ice. C o l o r e d posters have been placed on the university bulletin boards, and each week a m i m e o g r a p h e d list of n e w accessions, "Books Y o u W a n t to R e a d , " is sent out to all libraries f o r posting and is mailed to those b o r r o w e r s w h o are interested. W i t h i n the L e n d i n g Service L i b r a r y , post- ers, newspaper clippings, reviews of recent acquisitions, pictures of a u t h o r s in the news, and best seller lists are displayed each week to s t i m u l a t e interest in r e a d i n g . T h e most i m p o r t a n t problem involved in the d i r e c t i n g of the L e n d i n g Service L i - b r a r y is t h a t of book selection and book buying. Since one of the p r i m a r y purposes of the collection is to provide books as they are published, a m a j o r i t y of the titles are ordered by the day of publication. T h e l i b r a r i a n m u s t study every publisher's list and all prepublication advertising and re- views in o r d e r to j u d g e as c a r e f u l l y as possible the m e r i t s of each f o r t h c o m i n g title. Visits to bookstores a n d to jobbers are h e l p f u l in d e t e r m i n i n g buying lists. T h e C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y Bookstore has cooperated w i t h t h e library, m a k i n g it possible to see all advance copies of books received. Ordering the Books Book o r d e r s are telephoned almost daily to the bookstore t h r o u g h w h i c h most of the stock is purchased. G e n e r a l l y one title of a book is o r d e r e d first a n d duplicates are re- quested only a f t e r the d e m a n d f o r the book has been established. If the title is a heavily advertised piece of fiction like Re- m a r q u e ' s Arch of Triumphj one can be reasonably sure t h a t t w e n t y copies w i l l be needed on publication day a n d o r d e r ac- cordingly. H o w e v e r , the vagaries of the public's taste and misleading advertising have led us to e r r on the side of caution. A s m o r e copies can generally be obtained on a day's notice, it has been proved a wise policy to buy w i t h c a u t i o n . Some well- advertised titles do not live u p to expecta- tions a n d the books are soon l e f t s t a n d i n g on the shelves w h i l e other titles n o t pushed so freely in advance by the publishers may be c a t a p u l t e d into i m m e d i a t e success. W h e n Strange Fruit appeared, only t w o copies w e r e ordered b u t subsequent d e m a n d led to the purchase of eighteen m o r e copies. O n l y one copy of most mystery stories is bought, as it has been f o u n d t h a t the mystery audience is avid b u t small and duplicates are a poor investment. N o n f i c t i o n is m o r e difficult to choose t h a n either s t r a i g h t fiction or mystery stories. I t s p o p u l a r i t y is m o r e variable a n d dependent upon m a n y f a c t o r s r a t h e r t h a n upon the best seller lists w h i c h affect the r e a d i n g of fiction to a g r e a t e x t e n t . I n choosing nonfiction one or t w o copies of a book have generally been f o u n d to be suffi- cient, a l t h o u g h some titles o u t s t r i p fiction in p o p u l a r i t y . F o r instance, fifteen copies of Teacher in America w e r e needed, b u t , on the whole, the need f o r duplication is not g r e a t and can be j u d g e d f a i r l y accurately. O r d e r s f o r some books are placed well in advance of publication so t h a t most books are delivered before or on the day of pub- lication. Since orders are sent out directly f r o m l e n d i n g service, invoices are checked t h e r e on the a r r i v a l of the books and then sent to the acquisitions d e p a r t m e n t w h e r e bills are paid a n d final records filed. N e w stock is examined to make sure no defective JULY, im 25 7 m a t e r i a l is present and then the books are stamped, w r a p p e d in cellophane to preserve the dust jackets, a n d m a d e available f o r c i r c u l a t i o n . T h e s e operations are per- f o r m e d immediately upon the receipt of the books, and the n e w stock reaches the public on the day it arrives in the l i b r a r y . Books a r r i v i n g before publication day are held u n - til the release date set by the publishers. T h e c a t a l o g i n g of the books is h a n d l e d in as simple a m a n n e r as possible. W h e n books are ordered, t w o o r d e r cards are typed, one f o r the acquisition d e p a r t m e n t and one f o r l e n d i n g service, w h e r e the order card e v e n t u a l l y becomes the shelflist c a r d . O n the o r d e r card appears the n a m e of the a u t h o r , title, publisher, date, and price, as well as the dat e o r d e r e d a n d the firm w i t h w h o m the o r d e r is placed. A s soon as a n e w title is ordered, the o r d e r card f o r lend- ing service becomes a w o r k c a r d . A n assist- a n t checks it against the union catalog and the L . C . catalog to d e t e r m i n e the main entry, the a u t h o r ' s correct name, a n d dates. A simple catalog card is then typed, giving the i n f o r m a t i o n on the w o r k card and the t r a c i n g w h i c h usually consists of only a title. N o subject headings are used except f o r biography. U p o n the a r r i v a l of the books, the m a i n e n t r y cards are sent to the c a t a l o g i n g d e p a r t m e n t w h e r e the necessary duplicates a r e typed and filed in the union catalog. T h e original a u t h o r cards are re- t u r n e d to l e n d i n g service a n d they are filed w i t h title cards in the l e n d i n g service cata- log. Discarding T h e discarding of books is equally as im- p o r t a n t as the a d d i n g of n e w m a t e r i a l . Several times a year t h e shelves are examined a n d all books t h a t have n o t circu- lated d u r i n g the past six m o n t h s are segre- gated f o r sale. A t r e g u l a r intervals sale lists are prepared and sent to all libraries in the university w h e r e the lists are checked. T h e l e n d i n g service o r d i n a r i l y supplies most of the fiction titles f o r the general l i b r a r y . U s u a l l y d e p a r t m e n t a l libraries buy about half of the titles listed. T h e s e books are then t r a n s f e r r e d t h r o u g h the acquisitions d e p a r t m e n t w h i c h in t u r n credits l e n d i n g service w i t h the money involved. Books which are n o t sold to the libraries are then placed on a sale shelf f o r the public. T h e prices of books so disposed of v a r y in ac- cordance w i t h the original price of the book, the physical condition of the book, and the type of the book. T h e s t a n d a r d price f o r secondhand fiction is seventy-five cents while nonfiction sells f o r one dollar or more. T h e sale of books is m o r e or less a con- t i n u o u s process since n e w sale books are added at f r e q u e n t intervals. If books do not sell p r o m p t l y , then their price is re- duced. I n the past all used books have been sold, so t h a t the problem of excess m a t e r i a l has never arisen. N o b i n d i n g of w o r n books is done. If a book circulates so o f t e n t h a t the b i n d i n g breaks, a duplicate copy is purchased a n d the w o r n one sold. T h i s policy is adhered to f o r t w o r e a s o n s : first, a r e b o u n d book is difficult to r e n t and to sell; and second, the a t t r a c t i v e appearance of the room, one of the most i m p o r t a n t fac- tors in its success, w o u l d be i n j u r e d by shelving rebound m a t e r i a l . M e t h o d s employed at the circulation desk are as direct and practical as possible. A book card is m a d e f o r each copy of a title or v o l u m e and filed alphabetically by a u t h o r in the c h a r g i n g t r a y . T h e s e cards are di- vided into t w o groups, the in-file a n d . the out-file. A s soon as a book is b r o u g h t to the desk to be charged, the p r o p e r c a r d f r o m the in-file is w i t h d r a w n , dated, and the bor- r o w e r ' s n a m e w r i t t e n on it. D u r i n g the course of the day, the circulation figures are d e t e r m i n e d by c o u n t i n g these cards w h i c h are then filed in the out-file. W h e n a book 258 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES is returned, the reverse process is performed, the number of days the book has been in circulation is computed and the charge made accordingly. Receipts from each book are recorded in a receipt book and the sum taken in is tallied with the amount in the cash drawer. Subjects of Interest T h e readers at Columbia have shown themselves interested in the widest variety of subjects. Serious fiction attracts the greatest number of readers and rents more steadily than books in any other field. For instance, Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls was so popular that forty copies were purchased. Furthermore, the popularity of a solid title endures. One copy of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter still r e n t s al- though it is now more than five years old. A new novel frequently revives interest in other titles by the same author. Although the general policy is to purchase only cur- rent books, the demand for earlier stories by Katherine Anne Porter when The Lean- ing Tower appeared caused us to add her other titles. T h e success of Marquand's play, The Late George Apley, caused a similar demand for the novel. In the field of nonfiction, books relating to international affairs are perhaps the most widely read. T h e many recent titles on Russia and China, postwar planning, solv- ing the riddle of peace, have all been in con- stant demand. However, war books have failed to rent well except for a few out- standing titles such as Ernie Pyle's Brave Men and Bill Mauldin's Up Front. How- ever, most of the reports from journalists on distant fronts do not arouse appreciable interest. Recent books on popular psy- chiatry are widely read. All studies of Freud, both biographical and critical, and books by Horney, Zilboorg, and others are equally in demand. Biography is variable, certain titles catching the readers' attention and others seemingly as well written, being overlooked. Historical biography is fol- lowed by only a small audience. T h e poetry of W . H . Auden, Marianne Moore, and Karl Shapiro and books of literary criticism are constant renters. Plays popu- lar on Broadway rent well, others do not. A r t books which have sufficient text are excellent for display purposes and will rent fairly well. Virtually no technical books except photography guides are purchased. Scientific works are seldom requested. Supply of Books At present approximately 2500 books are in use in this room, about half of which are nonfiction. D u r i n g the winter months about 150 new volumes are added each month, though considerably fewer are bought during the summer when publishing is not so active. T h e demand for the rental service has grown steadily since its begin- ning except for a slight decline in the war years. Members of the faculty and stu- dents now rely upon this collection for study as well as for leisure-time reading. T h e financial success of the service has been outstanding. For the past three years the income from the rental and sale of books has paid for all books and all salaries. T h e department has cost the university only a few hundred dollars a year for supplies. It is possible that in the future all expenses may be covered. Lending service has in no way interfered or competed with the work done in the other university libraries. T h e i r work goes on just as in the past, but the rental service has made it possible for any campus reader to consult the latest books on their immediate release. T h e Lending Service Library is more than a unique idea; it is the practical answer to the university librarian's problem of meet- ing popular demand with supply. JULY, 1946 24 7